Etisalat customers are complaining that several pre-paid cards they bought in Abu Dhabi had zero credit.

Rawan R, a Palestinian lawyer, said she bought two cards last month and lost all her money.

"I bought a calling card from a grocery for Dh25. And when I tried to dial a number it said there is no credit and I could not make calls," Riyad told XPRESS. She said the grocery refused to reimburse or replace the pre-paid calling card because she had already opened the sealed pack.

"The shopkeeper flatly refused to give my money back saying I have already opened the sealed pack. He said it was not his responsibility if the card did not have a balance," said Riyad.

The lawyer said she got even more furious when she was sold another Dh25 card with zero balance the following week. "The second card was bought from another shop, and I had the same experience. I lost all my money," she said.

However, some groceries said it is rare and one in 1,000 cards sold may be defective. "We sell hundreds of cards every month, but this has happened twice or thrice," said Ummar K., who runs a grocery shop in the Tourist Club area.